Teresa Engelhard appointed to StartupAUS board

Teresa Engelhard appointed to StartupAUS board

Australia, 05 March 2016:StartupAUS, Australia’s peak advocacy group for startups,today announced the appointment of new board member, Teresa Engelhard.

Ms Engelhard is a Silicon Valley transplant whose two decades of experience with startups and growth-stage technology companies includes venture capital, executive and NED roles. Since moving to Australia ten years ago, Ms Engelhard has maintained her Silicon Valley roots by helping Antipodean companies access overseas investment, markets and exits. Her global startup outcomes include a multibillion dollar US listing, three US company trade sales, and five Australia and New Zealand company trade sales, all to overseas buyers.

Ms Engelhard is currently on the boards of RedBubble, a creative online marketplace for made-to-order products featuring designs by independent artists, which recently announced plans for an ASX listing; Planet Innovation, twice named “Australia’s Most Innovative Company” by BRW and a global leader in medical device and IoT product development; and Daintree Networks, a developer ofIoT smart building systems deployed in more than 1000 U.S. commercial buildings. She also currently serves on the Entrepreneurs’ Programme Committee, a sub-committee of the Innovation Australia Board for the Australian Government.

StartupAUS Founding Director and Chairman, Peter Bradd, said Ms Engelhard’s global expertise and long track record of support for startup and entrepreneurial companies offers enormous value to the StartupAUS board.

“We are delighted Teresa has agreed to join the passionate team on our board to help champion the growth of Australia’s startup ecosystem. With a once-in-a-generation opportunity for change, it has never been more important to have the guidance of strong, experienced voices in the national conversation around innovation and startup growth. With her extensive experience in investment management and technology entrepreneurship, Teresa is well placed to help us recognise and respond to the priority growth challenges for Australian startups,” Mr Bradd said.

Commenting on her appointment, Ms Engelhard, said: “I’m excited to be joining the StartupAUS family and working with the team that has been instrumental in helping Australia understand the importance of startups, as well as making a significant and important contribution to the national innovation and entrepreneurship policy agenda. Having had the privilege of working with many local entrepreneurs who are equal-in-talent to the best-in-the-Valley, I am optimistic that StartupAUS’ goals for Australia are achievable.”

StartupAUS’ current focus is on establishing technology startups as the central part of the growth engine in Australia’s economy, picking up where the mining boom left off. Through policy work and fundraising, StartupAUS has been instrumental in shifting the political debate around innovation, particularly towards the policy settings outlined in the Prime Minister’s innovation statement – with many of the recommendations around technology and innovation coming from StartupAUS’ annual, action-orientedCrossroadsReport.

Current StartupAUS board members are: Chair Peter Bradd, Alan Noble, Bill Bartee, Glenn Smith, Andrew Larson, Wayne Gerard and StartupAUS CEO Alex McCauley. Former StartupAUS board member, Dr Jana Matthews resigned from the board in January 2016 to focus on her expanding work with growth companies as ANZ Chair in Business Growth and Director, Centre for Business Growth | UniSA Business School.

StartupAUS is a not-for-profit entity with a mission to transform Australia through technology entrepreneurship. StartupAUS believes a strong home-grown tech sector is vital to future Australian jobs and wealth. But getting there will require a national imperative to create the right environment, with a supportive culture and more entrepreneurs with the right skills.

StartupAUS will expand its efforts to bring financial partners on-board to help corporates have a bigger voice in the emerging innovation conversation and assist StartupAUS in increasing its resources and activities ahead of this year’s election, as both sides of politics vie for innovative traction. The organisation’s current corporate partners include Salesforce and Google Australia. It also has a growing list of philanthropic benefactors including successful tech entrepreneur, Steve Baxter, Co-Chairman of CHAMP’s Board of Directors and Investment Committee, Bill Ferris, and Director and Co-Founder of Allen & Buckeridge, Roger Allen.